Las Vegas shooter's note contained calculations for targeting crowd, source says

[oberliner]

Source: CNN

A handwritten note in the hotel room of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock contained calculations pertaining to the distance and trajectory from his window on the 32nd floor to the festival crowd below, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation. CNN has previously reported that a note containing only numbers was found in the room. Those numbers were characterized as being significant to the gunman.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/07/us/las-vegas-shooting-investigation/index.html

[The Wielding Truth]

1. Will they do an autopsy to see if he had a brain tumor or other brain aliment that would have

caused his insanity?

[Nitram]

3. I hope so. A brain tumor could explain a complete change in personality and behavior.

[LisaL]

13. Who says he had a change in personality and behavior?

[RobinA]

28. Actually,

his brother did. There's a front page article in today's NYT that kind of sums up what is known publicly about Paddock at this point. His brother states that he started to "deteriorate" late last year. True? I don't certainly know, but there it is.

[Nitram]

30. People who knew him say there were no signs he had a strong religious,

ideological, or philosophical grudge against any particular group. It came as a complete surprise and shock to those who the knew him, like his brother. With no signs so far of the kind of anger we would expect to be the cause of an act like this, one of us are just speculating what the trigger was.

[SoCalMusicLover]

6. Stop With The Insanity Theory

There are plenty of signs that he was completely sane.

He just had a gun fetish, and wanted to kill a lot of people. Why does his motive need to go beyond that?

[The Wielding Truth]

9. Because the "wanted to kill a lot of people" doesn't scream sane to me.

[LisaL]

14. Legal definition of insanity is not knowing right from wrong.

I haven't seen anything to suggest this guy didn't know right from wrong.

[RobinA]

27. That's the Definition

for an insanity defense. Not that I'm arguing this guy was insane. That word isn't particularly useful in my opinion.

[AllyCat]

16. That is insane behavior.

Wanting to kill a bunch of people is completely bonkers.

[raccoon]

21. Thank you. Nt

[Nitram]

31. That's very scientific. A "gun fetish?" Does everyone with your gun fetish commit mass murder?

Do most people with a gun fetish commit mass murder? What exactly is a gun fetish? SoCAl, what's your point? Sounds like pure pop psychology.

[TexasProgresive]

11. It may not be conclusive

He ate his gun.

[The Wielding Truth]

12. Still, there may be fragments. This is gross but it should be studied. I think.

[Egnever]

34. That could be difficult

If he blew his brains out.

[guillaumeb]

2. All of the media obsession with the minutiae of the crime ignores the fact that it is so easy to

amass guns and ammunition and large capacity clips. The why of the crime does not really matter, it is the how that matters and the how is generally ignored by the corporate media.

[Nitram]

4. guillaumeb, I agree that the ease with which his arsenal was accumulated is a major issue.

As far as we know, the man accumulated the guns, ammunition, and bump stocks legally, and that will certainly be a future focus of the story. Right now the most interesting question is WHY? The HOW is known. A campaign to restrict accessibility is a different issue. I'd suggest that is more the responsibility of voters than the media. We should take responsibility and not rely on the media to do what is actually our obligation as voters.

[hexola]

5. Almost indicates a LACK of planning...

Why would he wait until D-Day to make these calculations?

[SoCalMusicLover]

7. Who Says He Did It That Day?

Could have been in the days leading up to the attack, or even months earlier. He's stayed there before.

[hexola]

10. Indeed - perhaps a bit overthought too

Like - its spray and pray - like what are you worried about...

Just start firing until you see them dance - and let it rip...

[LisaL]

15. Where does it say he waited until the D-day to make these calculations?

[Sgent]

17. He may have not known

exactly what floor he was on until the room was assigned.

[onenote]

19. I can't find the link, but I read he requested that specific suite.

He was a high roller. They would accommodate him.

[csziggy]

29. He may have done the figures in the days leading up to it

I doubt he could do them before he knew exactly which room he would be in, the layout of the festival, the wind direction, and other factors he may not have been able to determine in advance.

[Nitram]

32. Amassing that amount of munition and that many modified semi-automatic rifles takes

a lot of planning. Putting video cameras in the hotel hall took planning. Choosing the right room was a sign of planning.

[They_Live]

8. The guy was a loony.

Pretty much, if your shoot out that window, you're going to hit somebody. With every shot.

[LisaL]

18. Says who?

He was high above ground, and at a distance from a crowd. There would have to be some calculations to figure out that the bullets are going to hit.

[hexola]

20. Nonsense - you're completely disregarding the size of the target

Last edited Sun Oct 8, 2017, 09:32 AM - Edit history (1)

Its not like he was aiming for any specific thing or person - the size of the target was HUGE.

All he had to do was fire a few quick volleys - and look for the crowd reaction...and adjust.

As far as I know - the first volley of shots was closer to the stage - even hitting some of the gear and people in the front...saw people moving and thought - " a little lower" - and then let loose once he knew he has in the sweet spot. Even if he made calculations - he still probably sprayed based more on visual cues - people running for their lives or hitting the dirt.

This wasn't a shot that required ballistic accuracy.

The only think I can think is - he made few quick calculations regarding the fuel tanks - which are farther away - and much smaller - requiring some ballistic calculations.

[LisaL]

22. The target might be huge but the target is far away.

It was also dark.

[hexola]

24. Not that dark at all - lots of ambient light - and the stage rig

Also worth noting - the stage crew threw on the crowd blinders about 10 seconds after Aldean ran off stage - (a big bank of lights that lights the crowd)

[NickB79]

25. 400 yards isn't THAT far with a 5.56mm round

At 3000 feet per second, if you zero your gun 2" high at 100 yards, the bullet will only be a foot or so low at 400 yards. For the first hundred rounds or so, he'd just have to point and shoot into a target acres in size.

My guess is that he anticipated ahead that the crowd would scatter after the initial burst, and he'd have to aim his fire at smaller groups trying to get behind cover. My guess is that those numbers correspond to parked RV's, buses, portapotties, concrete barriers, etc, scattered around the area, and he used a laser rangefinder earlier in the day to measure it out. After all, he was still shooting in bursts, what, 10 minutes after he started?

[Paladin]

23. Jackoff material for the pro-gun militants.

They'll do their best to direct the conversations to technical matters like distance and trajectory---and away from puddles of blood and victim funerals.

[hexola]

26. Well - seems pretty certain - its what they said it was...

CBS had some first responders on this morning - guys first in the room - and they said it was what it was - trajectory calculations.

Doesn't make much sense - but I guess he checked it out.

OK.

[Nitram]

33. Thanks, hexola. Speculation with no direct knowledge of the facts is tiresome.

[sarisataka]

35. Unless he was aiming at

a specific person, such calculations were irrelevant. He literally could not miss the crowd at that range.